Eve Online reminds me of a kitchen nightmare episode

This isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but there’s an unexpected consequence: by equating ISK with money, CCP (and ISK) would potentially become subject to banking laws in some countries.

In general, game companies’ lawyers won’t let them sell in-game currency for RL money.

BTW it’s not impossible: e.g. AFAIK in-game currency can still be bought for USD in Second Life.